The Calm Before the Storm
by Novel Inkling
Summary: As the day for warfare on Inkopolis draws near, Mint, Akari, and Chili are placed in charge by Kira to get the camp up and running and to find new recruits. As Mint and Akari try rallying troops, they find it is easier said than done, they pull in two squiddos that are less likely to make a difference in their upcoming war. With time dwindling, can they make them into soldiers?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

Chili perched himself onto a ledge and used a pair of goggles to stare out at the ocean. He kept the dark crystal Kira gave him close and sighed heavily as he checked the time.

Mint walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him jump a bit. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?" They asked, a worried expression on their face.

The squid huffed. "Yes, you did. I'm waiting for Kira to come back from the island..."

"You know this stuff takes time, right? She's doing something vital to saving our home."

He groaned in frustration and stood up. "I know that! But I can't wait any longer... What if she got caught by TarTar again? What if she's dead?!"

Mint held his shoulders and said in a calm manner, "Deep breaths Chili, deep breaths."

He let out a huge sigh and his ears lowered. "You understand why I'm worried, right?"

"Yeah, I do. But she's such a strong inkling. She'll do fine on her own."

"Guess you're right."

Akari walked up and grinned a bit. "Okay, finally set up the security system for the camp. Now we'll be hidden and it'll let us know about Kira's return."

Mint cheered a bit. "Thank you so much for going out of your way to build that."

"Hey, anything to win this war." She commented.

* * *

The camp had pretty much been finished. There were several small buildings that served for housing soldiers, storing weapons, armories, training-fields; all that was needed to be considered a good military camp. Captain Cuttlefish looked proud and smiled at Chili as he walked towards him. "You've really outdone yourselves, Agents."

"This was all Ki-Agent 4's idea. We just made it happen while she's off doing something dangerous." Chili commented as he shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. Chili wore a black and red hoodie with his silver heart locket underneath. He kept that locket Kira gifted him very close. More than ever now that he knows he might not see her ever again.

"We're getting ready to go out and find recruits for this war." Mint started. "If I've learned anything from Kira, is that no matter how anxiety inducing the situation is right now, I have to give it my all!"

Akari nodded. "Chili, stay here and continue watching for Kira. Mint and I will go recruit."

He nodded. "Please... Don't be long..."

Mint hugged him and whispered. "We promise." And waved him and the others goodbye before heading off to recruit.

Julie had finished unpacking and bounced up to her brother and caretaker. "Sho what do we do now?"

"We? You're not doing anything dangerous."

Julie pouted. "AW! Come ooooon! Akari and Mint get to go!"

"Because they're adults and you're a child. I mean it Julie."

"No fair! Pleashe let me go!" She made the saddest puppy dog eyes she ever made and whimpered.

Chili grunted. "That hasn't worked on me, and it won't work on me ever. Go help Callie or sumthin while I wait for them to return."

"Fiiiiiiiine! You're no fun." She ran off towards Callie's direction and it was just Chili. All on his own.

_For the love of all that is holy, please be okay Kira..._

* * *

Mint and Akari wandered the streets of Inkopolis, uncertain about performing a huge speech in the middle of the square, looking like weirdos.

"Okay, I can't do this!" Mint cried.

"Why not?"

Mint gulped nervously. "T-There are so many people... And I doubt the news crew will even let us broadcast our call..."

'We don't know that. We gotta give the benefit of the doubt." Akari told her.

Mint sighed in relief. "You're right!"

Just as they were about to go to the receptionist, an inkling and an octoling walked out of the studio with a mountain of papers. The octoling had blue hair and three octoling tentacles, wearing a blue varsiety jacket with a pink shirt and white shorts, and sneakers. The inkling had long pink hair and a A hairpin in her hair, wearing a matching outfit with her friend.

"I can't believe we have to get ALL this recorded by Friday!" The female inkling whined. "That's like, wasted time I could be playing Turf!"

The octoling boy smiled. "Look on the bright side, Aurora. At least we'll be getting it done and over with."

Akari was doing something, unaware of the whole situation, and accidentally crashed into the octoling boy, making the papers fly everywhere.

"The script!" He cried.

Akari's backpack turned into an extra set of extendable arms and it grabbed some of the flying papers while she got on the ground and picked up the other papers. "I am so sorry, sir. Let me get those for you."

"Thanks so much for the extra set of hands." He sighed, but he had a smile on his face still. "Those were kinda hurting my arms due to how heavy they were."

Akari grinned as she held the mountain of papers in the extra mechanical hands. "Hey, the feeling is mutual. It's so true, but replace these scripts with blueprints and you have my life summed up in a nutshell."

Both octolings shared a laugh before he extended his hand. "I'm Aero, one of the S2A mascots."

"Akari Kagaku." She shook his hand and smiled. "Say, did you just finish using that recording room?"

"You mean the studio?" He wondered. "Yeah, why?"

Akari sighed in relief. "Well, me and-"

"Kari! What are you doing?" Mint interupted and looked excited. "Who's this? Are these your new friends? What-"

"Okay! Mint, slow your roll and calm down." She said as she held their shoulders. "Mint, this is Aero and his friend-"

"Aurora."

"...Aurora. And we had a little incident so I'm helping them clean up." She explained. "So... back to business. We need to borrow your studio for a bit."

Both looked at each other before turning back to the two octolings. "Why?"

Akari sucked in a breath and Mint grimaced. "How do you two feel about war? Not turf war... but _actual _war?"

* * *

Chili was scrolling through his phone and kept the crystal close. Hoping for some answer from either Kira or Mint about their recruitment excavations. But to his detriment, there have been no calls from either of them.

But then a sign of relief as Akari texted him.

"We need to talk. It's about the war. We're bringing some guests."

He looked up as Akari and Mint entered with Aero and Aurora behind them. They looked around the camp fascinated and Chili walked over to them. "So what's up with these two?"

"Akari said she was going to talk to us about something..."

"About a war?!" Aurora exclaimed.

Chili craned his head to the octoling and gritted his teeth. "You _told _them?!"

"Okay, but in my defense, we had no choice." She retorted.

The squid let out a groan and buried his tired face into his hand. "Okay, okay... I'll give you a quick run-down..."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Aero and Aurora just sat there, dumbfounded by the stuff Chili was telling them.

"This seems like something from a history lecture." Aurora commented with a roll of the eyes.

Chili poked her hard and snarled. "I swear to god, you pompous piece of shit-"

"C'mon, this is not the time to be arguing..." Mint told them. "What would Kira think if she were to hear our cause was for not? She's done so much for us and-"

Aero's head snapped up and he raised a finger to grab their attention. "Wait. Kira? As in, Kira Yoru?"

"That's the one." Akari said with a sigh.

Aero held up her picture. "I remember talking with her and a strange octoling after coming across them one night at the studio."

The trio turned towards each other and turned back to Aero and Aurora. "Can you excuse us for a minute?"

Kailano walked up to them. Her long black ray hood tied back and wearing tropical battle gear. "I'll help you get some gear and get settled in." She said as she lead them away.

"Something tells me Kira's been doing things behind our backs." Chili whispered.

"You think?" Akari replied in a snarky tone.

Mint shook their head. "Guys, that was before she promised to let us help her. We gotta put that aside for her sake and now, for Inkopolis' sake."

They all nodded.

"Now let's get ready."

* * *

All of them wore outfits that didn't resemble the hero gear, but the headsets were either the Agent 3 headphones, or the Agent 4 Headphones. Their outfits were surprisingly new for handouts.

"Training hand to hand will be taken care of by Chili. Healing training will be taken care of by Kailano. Support training by Mint, and weapons training by me." Akari told them, who was wearing her distinct metro gear. Mint, who was wearing their agent gear, and Chili, who was in a brand new Agent 3 setup with the same, tattered cape.

"You STILL have that thing?" Akari commented. "Looks like it's disintegrating."

"Shut the fuck up Akari." Chili rolled his eyes and pointed to Aurora. "Come on you. I'll be giving you a nice lesson on hand-to hand." He cracked his knuckles and grinned. "I promise to go easy on you."

Mint smiled at Aero. "You look like someone who is good at support. I'll take you under my wings."

Aero smiled and went over to them. "You got it!"

Akari went to her work-space and began modifying weapons and armor.

* * *

Hours passed and it was time to eat. Aero had officially gotten support gear; A white and blue jacket, with a long sleeved shirt with white pants and boots. His head gear was a small visor with the A on the side. His weapon looked like a mix between a laser gun and a clash blaster. Aurora had gotten her combat gear, a pink jacket with a fur collar and spikes aligning the sleeves. Her pin was still in her hair, and she was wearing spiked boots, holding an aerospray in her grasp.

"Nice job today guys. You'll be war machines in no time." Akari commented.

They both smiled and sat down at a table. Mint had finished their meal early and looked at the others. "I'm going to go to the gate to keep watch. I'll be back shortly." And left for the camp gates.

As Mint strolled by, they encountered Captain Cuttlefish. "Hey Captain, dinner in the mess hall is ready."

"Thank you fer the update, Eight." He turned towards them and smiled. "I'm very proud of you. You came a long way since the metro and you have developed a knack for teaching others."

Mint rubbed their neck in embarrassment and smiled. "Aw... Thanks Cap."

Mint heard some talking outside and ran to the gates to see who it was. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" The voice called up. They looked over and gasped as they saw their friend laying in the caped figure's arms, bleeding and unconscious.

"Oh my gosh! KIRA!" They cried. "Let them in! Please!"

The gates rose and all the shadow inklings ran in, with Mint going to Kira. The others ran out of the mess hall and saw the sight, making Chili's stomach churn. The worried squid pushed Mint out of the way and took the limp body from Layette. "Get the infirmary ready NOW! We have a severely wounded squid to look after!" And with all his strength, he bolted towards the infirmary tent and lied her down on the bed. Mint, Marie, and Kailano surrounded the injured squid and began to work, but due to the wound being so severe, Kira was not quiet about it, despite her best efforts. As Mint tried healing Kira using their hands, Kira yelped hoarsely as they tended to her sanitized wounds.

"Oh cod, Kira, I am so sorry! I'll try-"

"**GOOD FUCKING LORD IT BURNS!**" The squid screamed.

"...Oh boy."

* * *

Hours passed and the torture was all over. Kira was unconscious in the infirmary bed, her wound wrapped in three layers of gauze.

"What happened to 4?" Captain Cuttlefish asked.

Callie exclaimed, "She looked so miserable!"

"The metro." Misery commented, folding her arms. "It hurt your friend."

Captain narrowed his eyes at Misery. "Now there better be a good explanation to why you're here."

Alaric got in Captain's face and snarled. "Listen here. We have been nothing but polite to you and you treat us like WE are the enemies."

"And you're not welcomed in this society!" Captain snapped.

"GUYS! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Kira whined as she coughed. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE!" And flopped back into the bed.

Everyone was silent before returning to the subject.

"Now hang on!" Mint called out. "Why are you guys fighting?"

Both Captain Cuttlefish and Chief Alaric sighed. "We will explain..."

* * *

_When the Great Turf War first happened between the Octarians and Inklings, there was a third race that was erased from history. That race was the dark inklings and dark octolings. AKA, Dark Cephalopods. Their leader at the time, Chief Isora, proposed peace between all three races. But that was denied in the heat of the war, and all of the shadowed creatures were implored to side with their respectable sides._

_Refusing to do so, they stood united. And they were slaughtered until they retreated into the metro and built an underground society away from the surface._

_And for years, it's been that way until now._

* * *

As the group talked things out, Chili slipped away from the conversation, while Aero and Aurora was forced to stay away while they talked.

"So what's the deal?" Aurora asked.

"When Kira returns to consciousness, she will be the commanding officer in charge of everything, not me." Chili explained. "And don't you give her any trouble, ya hear? Otherwise I'll knock yer heads together like coconuts." He told them as he walked to the infirmary to check up on Kira.

The Dark Hero was lying on the bed, reading a novel Layette must have loaned her. She looked up upon his arrival and smiled.

"Come to see me? I'd thought you'd be keeping Julie out of the supplies." She chuckled.

He chuckled back and pulled a chair over. "Yeah, but I put the little devil to bed before she could. So how you feeling?"

"Much better." Kira commented. "Mint's healing is improving."

"Yeah... They've made such an improvement. We all have." He commented, and he felt Kira touching his hair, examining it.

"Are these red highlights in your hair?"

He grunted. "No dummy, its black."

"Finally going goth huh? Linkin Park has always been your taste in music, never knew- ack! Hey!" She laughed as Chili lightly punched her.

He grinned. "I ain't that edgy. Besides, you've already claimed the title of edgelord."

"Stole that from right under you."

Both laughed and Chili squidformed, climbing up onto the bed and positioning himself in her lap. "I missed you... y'know?"

She pulled him close and hugged him gently. "I know... I did too..."

"I can't believe it's time for another war..." He sighed. "I just want to go on a long **long **ass vacation."

"Me too... But first come this, and for everyone's sake." Kira said with a yawn as she got comfortable.

"I'll win this war for everyone. Even if I die..."

Chili felt her body go limp as she fell into the peaceful embrace of slumber. He looked up and thought to himself as he extended a tentacle to hold her hand.

_I'll help you win the war and live to see another sunny day._

**_Because I'd rather be the one who dies than you die on the battle field for everyone else._**

* * *

Final War will be coming out soon


End file.
